4800. } 
the four called Gragts, which derive their 
names from the four broad canals which 
flow in a right line through the city for 
about four miles and a half. Thefe canals 
‘have, on each fide, broad ftreets, planted 
with rows of trees, and connected by 
beautiful drawbridges. But then. this 
_pleafantnefs is counterbalanced by many 
difagreeable circumiftances. The canals 
ferve to the inhabitants as a receptacle for 
all kind of filth,which they caft into the wa- 
ter from their houfes; this occafions,efpeci- 
ally in fwmmer, a peftilent and intolerable 
ftench. In winter, the canals fend forth 
a nebulous exhalation, which begins to 
rife at abeut fun-fet, and continues often 
till nine o’clock in the morning: this fog 
is frequently fo denfe, that it is impoffible 
_to diftinguifh the ftreet from the canal, 
whence many an unwary ftranger lofes his 
life by falling into the water. Thefe ex- 
halations likewife force the inhabitants 
to obferve the high degree of cleanlinefs 
which prevails here, and which is abfo- 
lutely neceffary for the prefervation of their 
health and of the external beauty of their 
houfes, which would otherwife foon be 
covered with a thick black incrufation. 
Next to thefe Gragis, the moft beautiful 
ftreet of Amfterdam is the Kalvers /lraat, 
not fo much on account of its breadth and 
cleanlinefs —for it is narrow and dirty--bur 
becaufe it extends above a mile and a half 
in length, and every houfe prefents to the 
eye of the ftranger new objeéts to occupy 
his attention and to excite his defires. The 
whole ftreet is one continued fair, where 
every thing from the moft trifling neceffa- 
ries of life to the moft coftly articles of 
luxury may be purcha(ed ; every houle is a 
warehoufe, vying with one another in the 
rarity and richnefs of the commodities they 
contain. The politician may here meet with 
a confiderable fund of entertainment; part- 
ly becaufe he will obferve, with fmiling 
aftonifhment, that a variety of Englifh ma- 
nufactures—the importation and felling of 
which is forbidden by feveral decrees—are 
Broa expaled for fale; partly becaufe 
ne will here find a number of his frater- 
nity aflembled, as the principal coffee- 
houfes are in this ftreet, probably on ac- 
count of its vicinity to the Town-houle. 
Of the other flreets none is peculiarly. 
diftinguithed, though thole neareft to the 
haven and on the Egge, will appear the 
moft intereting to a ftranger, who never 
before faw a large commercial city, both 
on account of the profpeét, and of the in- 
ceffant buftle of the bufy multitude, 
* & Olim meminiffe juvabit,” exclaims the 
Amfterdam merchant when ke now paftes » 
§ ketch of Amfterdam. 
227 
along this part of the city ; and whoever 
has. during the prefent war, been in 
Hamburg, will certainly find himfelf com- 
paratively lonely and unfatisfied in the har- 
bour of Amfterdam. 
The moft difagreeable part of the city 
is the quarter of the Jews, who, before 
they were admitted to the rank of citizens, 
were obliged to dwell, with very few ex- 
ceptions, in a diftin€t part of the city, 
which, indeed, lies within the gates and 
walls of Amfterdam, but is feparated by 
the Amftel from the habitations of the 
Chriftians, communicating therewith only 
by means of a bridge, The filth in the 
ftreets inhabited by the Jews, and the excef- 
five naftinefs of the houfes, furpafs all 
power of defcription; and are more dif- 
gufting, as one is quite unaccuftomed here 
to fuch a fight. The Jews themfelves 
are, for the moft part cloathed in dirty 
rags, make a difagreeable noife, crowd 
around the ftranger, begging: of him and 
teazing him to buy fome of their wares ; 
and, if an opportunity offers, picking his 
pocket, fo that one cannot be too much on 
his guard againft the tricks of fuch dex- 
terous and cunning thieves. 
The houfes in Amfterdam are in gene= 
ral built in an old-fafhioned ftyle: only a 
few in the Heeren-Gragt are diftinguifhed 
by a better tafte. As the population of 
Amfterdam—before the laft revolution, by 
which this city, from obvious caufes, loft 
a number of its inhabitants—had, by de- 
grees, greatly increafed; this naturally 
occafioned a want of room, the confe- 
quence of which was, that moft of the pri- 
vate houfes are {o narrow, and the broad- 
eft of them has not above fix windows in 
front. ~The moft beautiful houfes are in 
the Gragts, which are inhabited by private 
perfons and placemen, and therefore are 
the deareft*. But here too the houfes are 
narrow from want of room ; they have, 
therefore, funk flories, through which the 
ufual entrance leads; but, befides, every 
houfe has fteps, which lead direétly into 
the firft tory, and the way by which ftran- 
gers and vifitors ufually enter, 
The public edifices in Amfterdam de. 
ferve the moft honourable teftimony : here 
there has been no {paring of the ground 5 
* A houfe with three windows in front, 
which has from four to five good apartments, , 
fome bed-rooms, and a fmall garden, is let 
for 12 or 1400 florins annual rent. Good 
houfes are now dearer in Amfterdam than 
before the revolution. This is probably ow- 
ing to fo many placemen and officers of the 
ftate, who before that period dwelt at the 
Hague, having migrated to this city} 
Gga for 
